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This research investigates travel calculated hedonism (TCH) in diverse tourism contexts. An extant literature review, five focus groups and two expert panels conceptualised TCH. Field studies operationalised TCH in drinking (N = 355), eating (N = 351), wellness (N = 330) and shopping (N = 337) contexts. Findings identified four TCH scale dimensions -- delaying rewards, planned impulsiveness, planned financial compulsiveness and planned time/physical compulsiveness. Theoretical definitions of TCH set the groundwork for rationalised binging that is cognitive- and affect-driven. The methodology presents an approach for a rigorous TCH measure. The TCH scale offers a tool for practitioners to design activities that instigate rationalised binging and responsible behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although financial trust has been modeled as a critical predictor of retirement financial planning activities, insufficient understanding has been developed concerning the relationship between financial trust and the effectiveness of the model of retirement financial planning. This current research creatively evaluated the moderating role of financial trust in the model of retirement financial planning in a sample of young working adults in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China (N = 422). Results presented evidence to support financial trust strengthened the pathways in the model of retirement financial planning. For example, social support was positively and significantly linked to retirement financial behaviors in the subsample reporting high financial trust but not among those with low trust; Risk tolerance was positively and significantly associated with retirement financial planning behaviors in the high-trust subsample but not in the low-trust subsample; Future time perspectives positively and significantly connected to retirement goal clarity in the high-trust but not low-trust respondents. Our findings improve the understanding of the model of retirement financial planning by increasing its complexity and providing new entry points to enhance retirement financial planning, namely promoting financial trust among the public. The results also propose a potential mechanism that can be used to explain how manipulation of financial trust will lead to better retirement financial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities are increasingly focused on preparing graduates with strong disciplinary and interdisciplinary skills to increase student employability. In accounting education however, the development of employability skills remains a concern among graduates and employers. One strategy for enhancing employability is to engage students in industry-based experiences through work-integrated learning (WIL). This paper introduces a novel, industry-led WIL experience embedded in an Australian university's accounting and financial planning curriculum and investigates students' perceptions of employability skills developed through this intervention. In this WIL experience, industry professionals workshopped multidisciplinary skills and provided feedback to students following a simulated work-based scenario. Data was analysed from student surveys and reflections and showed that students perceived this approach as effective for developing employability skills such as teamwork and communication and for aligning theory to praxis. This paper supports endorsing alternative WIL models and industry collaborations in accounting education to enhance graduate employability skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prioritisation of public facilities' maintenance is a necessary but complex task due to the need of considering both physical and socio-economic criteria. This study addresses this problem by quantifying the improvement in the delivery of social benefits that the corrective maintenance of an urban area's public facilities could yield. Based on this, a decision framework is proposed to design and schedule corrective maintenance plans at a municipal scale. The methodology integrates multi-criteria assessment with an analytical method for evaluating the contribution of an area's public facilities to its sustainable urban development based on their type of social infrastructure and their maintenance condition. The decision framework is implemented as a software to facilitate its application to a case study, consisting in building urban regeneration strategies aligned with governmental guidelines. The results revealed that decision-making is more efficient when considering the facilities' type of social infrastructure. In addition, a cost-efficient prioritisation of corrective measures yields better results than neglecting the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently scholars have turned their attention to the role of intergenerational financial assistance in facilitating entry into home ownership for young adults. This practice has been identified as a means through which intergenerational inequalities may be translated into intragenerational inequalities. However, the question of what this form of financial dependence on family means for both young adults and their parents has received less attention. This article reports on the findings of a study conducted with 15 related donor-recipient pairs (30 in-depth interviews in total) in the UK in 2019. Drawing on these findings, we show that the provision and receipt of intergenerational financial assistance does not simply reflect family practices, but instead plays an active part in developing and conveying them. We ultimately contend that the practice of giving and receiving financial transfers shapes individuals' broader orientations to the property market, and to financial decision-making and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests the hypothesis that public servants have higher levels of financial preparation for retirement compared to other occupations. Also, it identifies whether the model is invariant. The results indicate that public servants have better future expectations, financial planning, and savings behavior than other occupations. The level of financial preparation for retirement is low in all occupations. The construction of public policies that consider both the need to increase levels of planning and inequalities is essential for greater financial well-being in retirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how customer perception of dependence on salesperson (CPDS) and customer–salesperson guanxi determine salesperson influence tactics (SITs) and salesperson influence effectiveness (SIE) in the context of Confucian-rooted culture. We issued 800 online questionnaires to customers of four Taiwanese life insurance companies and obtained 636 valid responses. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypotheses. The results confirmed that CPDS and customer-salesperson guanxi determine SIT usage and SIE, where CPDS also facilitates close customer-salesperson guanxi. We discovered that SITs contribute to the positive effect of customer-salesperson guanxi on SIE, and customer-salesperson guanxi positively mediates the effect of CPDS on SIT usage and SIE. Customer-salesperson guanxi, CPDS, and information exchange, promise, and encouragement tactics contribute to SIE. This may be the first study to associate CPDS and customer-salesperson guanxi with SIT usage and SIE simultaneously in the context of Confucian-rooted culture. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/08853134.2021.1947142. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tasked with managing financial affairs, agents are commonly in the media spotlight during high-profile transfers and contract negotiations. The industry has evolved into one of the most misunderstood parts of the game. This research originates at a time of deregulation and lower entry barriers making it timely to explore the developing world of agent practices. The data collection in 2018, involved interviews with 20 agents who had responsibilities for 114 professional players. Participants had a minimum of two years' experience and represented players within English football. The analysis identified "Image Development," "Financial Planning," "Relationship Building" and "Constructive Counselling" as the emergent themes that illustrated agent's practices. The findings present evidence that the agent industry has experienced a significant period of evolution with those involved becoming increasingly specialised in their practices to facilitate transactions, as clients continue to expect the highest level of individual service, often unrelated to "on-field" performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commodity markets are highly volatile markets where uncertainty management is critical for success. Certain commodities, such as copper concentrates, experience even higher levels of volatility and uncertainty. This is fundamentally due to the absence of a reference market that allows for a transparent price discovery, along with many factors affecting the price and trade of any commodity. Traders also lack the possibility of fully hedging their exposure to copper concentrate prices as there is no derivative market directly available for the commodity. Consequently, this paper analyses the copper concentrate trading business resorting to the Real Options methodology to assess the high volatility and uncertainty which dominates in this area of commodity markets. The results obtained indicate that this method can be applied by copper concentrate traders to separate the price uncertainty from their business operative and financial planning for the future. This provides them with a reliable tool to lower the level of uncertainty affecting their long-term goals, as well as keeping the risk that they are taking under control. It also gives them higher managerial flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multi-stage stochastic programming (MSP) approach is widely used to solve financial planning problems owing to its flexibility. However, the size of an MSP problem grows exponentially with the number of stages, and such problem can easily become computationally intractable. Financial planning problems often consider planning horizons of several decades, and thus, the curse of dimensionality can become a critical issue. Stochastic dual dynamic programming (SDDP), a sampling-based decomposition algorithm, has emerged to resolve this issue. While SDDP has been successfully implemented in the energy domain, few applications of SDDP are found in the finance domain. In this study, we identify the major obstacle in using SDDP to solve financial planning problems to be the stagewise independence assumption and propose a partially observable SDDP (PO-SDDP) framework to overcome such limitations. We argue that the PO-SDDP framework, which models uncertainties using discrete-valued partially observable Markov states and introduces feasibility cuts, can properly address large-scale financial planning problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having quality information about strategic financial planning is very important for any organization. In the Local Government (LG) it is pivotal, as it is expected to impact strategic decision-making and overall management of local public resources. Yet, empirical research has failed to assess the quality of financial planning information, which must be assured both for management and accountability purposes. By proposing a quality index for strategic financial planning information – the Q-FPI Index – based on programming documents made available on the municipalities' websites, this research contributes to address this gap. The paper describes the multidimensional conceptual model followed to build the Index, considering the identification of data quality requirements and defining indicators to operationalize them. The Index is then tested through a pilot application, using data from five Portuguese municipalities. The Q-FPI Index constitutes a flexible tool, capable of fostering continuous improvement of local government performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the limitations and failures of strategic financial planning in public administration. It highlights the unpredictable nature of government revenue streams, such as tax revenues, and the challenges faced by institutions like healthcare and higher education in managing fluctuations in patient or student numbers. On the expenditure side, factors like volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) contribute to unpredictable spending, including emergency investments that can disrupt planned expenditures. The article suggests that governments should focus on building liquidity and solvency reserves to stabilize their financial situations, similar to the approach taken by financial corporations. However, it acknowledges that governments face the challenge of not being able to raise equity through capital market transactions. The article concludes that governments need to design fiscal rules that result in consecutive surpluses to build reserves and ensure they are not used for discretionary spending. Ultimately, the article emphasizes the importance of having sufficient cash in the short run and strong equity in the long run for governments to effectively manage crises and change. [Extracted from the article]

In affordability analyses by researchers and governments, various methods and indicators are applied. The conceptual advantages and weaknesses of the different affordability indicators have been extensively discussed in literature. The purpose of this article is to contribute to this debate by a case study of Flanders on the link between objective and subjective indicators of housing affordability. More specifically, the study tries to identify objective norms that maximize this relationship. The data is taken from the EU-SILC 2016 and the Flemish Housing Survey 2013. The analysis suggests that in Flanders a ratio with variable norms (by income groups) more closely reflects the subjective perception of affordability problems than the ratio indicators with fixed norms. As regards the residual income (RI) method, the RI with increased budget norms scores slightly better than the RI with basic budget norms on the association measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a global dataset of over 840,000 equity, bond and syndicated loan investment banking deals, we build the fossil fuel investment brokerage profile of financial centres worldwide between 2000 and 2018. We also study whether city-level fossil fuel divestment commitments and country-level green banking policies impact the profile of fossil fuel financial centres over our study timeframe. We find that several financial centres shift their fossil fuel investment brokerage profiles substantially, including the asset classes in which they are active. However, we do not find any evidence that this is driven by city-level divestment commitments. In contrast, we find that fossil fuel investment banking brokers situated in financial centres exposed to voluntary green banking policies reduce their fossil fuel financing. This is driven by foreign brokers whose behaviour appears to signal an anticipation of forthcoming mandatory green finance policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competitiveness of financial centres increasingly hinges on their capability at brokering financial flows. Though existing studies have paid attention to the rise and fall of some financial brokerage cities (FBCs), less is known about how such dynamics of FBCs have been shaped by the structure of financial networks and the interactions among FBCs. Taking China's financial network as an example, we consider not only the interactions between FBCs but also their multiple brokerage roles. Empirical analyses confirm that a city's brokerage dynamics are neither independent nor can be portrayed as a linear trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All European countries have national immunization programs (NIPs) to protect gainst infectious diseases. We aimed to estimate the individual lifetime cost of vaccination in 23 European countries, assuming full compliance with NIP schedules. We used publicly available data to estimate the individual lifetime cost of vaccination with the vaccines that are currently recommended and funded in each country for healthy individuals and for individuals with underlying medical conditions. We included a scenario analysis for healthy individuals in which all currently recommended vaccines were universally funded, and compared the annual costs per person of vaccination to the annual per-capita costs of all-cause hospitalization and anti-infective medications. The individual lifetime cost of vaccination was €592–3,504 for healthy individuals (median: €1,663; 13–20 diseases), €744–9,081 for individuals with underlying conditions (median: €2,992; 13–21 diseases), and €1,225–4,832 (median: €2,565; 21–22 diseases) in the scenario analysis, with median values for vaccine acquisition of €1,203, €1,731, and €1,788, respectively. Our estimates show that the maximum potential cost of vaccination requires a relatively low level of investment assuming full compliance. These data could be useful for policymakers in future financial planning and evaluation of NIPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In with-profit life insurance, the prudent valuation of future insurance liabilities leads to systematic surplus that mainly belongs to the policyholders and is redistributed as bonus. For a fair and lawful redistribution of surplus, the insurer needs to decompose the total portfolio surplus with respect to the contributions of individual policies and with respect to different risk sources. For this task, actuaries have a number of heuristic decomposition formulas, but an overarching decomposition principle is still missing. This paper fills that gap by introducing a so-called ISU decomposition principle that bases on infinitesimal sequential updates of the insurer's valuation basis. It is shown that the existing heuristic decomposition formulas can be replicated as ISU decompositions. Furthermore, alternative decomposition principles and their relation to the ISU decomposition principle are discussed. The generality of the ISU concept makes it a useful tool also beyond classical surplus decompositions in life insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of intra-bloc trade on the earnings and operating expenses of insurance companies. The share of exports (imports) to other countries that are members of the trade agreement in the country's exports (imports) of direct insurance services are used as relative measures of intra-bloc trade. We use data on insurance companies located in North America (Canada and the United States of America) from 2005 to 2018. The production function is assumed to be transcendental logarithmic. Results show that a higher share of other member countries in the exports of direct insurance services has a small impact on profits, yet it is only weakly statistically significant. It does, however, lead to lower operating expenses for non-life firms. A relatively higher import share is associated with increasing operating expenses of life insurance companies with an elasticity of 0.08% without significantly reducing profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first studies the optimal reinsurance problems for two competitive insurers and then studies the optimal reinsurance premium pricing problem for their common reinsurer by using the dynamic programming technique. The two insurers are subject to common insurance systematic risk. Each purchases proportional or excess-of-loss reinsurance for risk control. They aim to maximize the expected utilities of their relative terminal wealth. With the insurers' optimal reinsurance strategies, the reinsurer decides the reinsurance premiums for each insurer, also aiming to maximize the expected utility of her terminal wealth. Thus, the optimal reinsurance pricing problem is formulated as a Stackelberg game between two competitive insurers and a reinsurer, where the reinsurer is the leader, and the insurers are followers. Besides, all three players take model ambiguity into account. We characterize the optimal strategies for the insurers and the reinsurer and provide some numerical examples to show the impact of competition and model ambiguity on the pricing of reinsurance contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the design of Pareto-optimal insurance under the heterogeneous beliefs of the insured and insurer. To accommodate a wide range of belief heterogeneity, we allow the likelihood ratio function to be non-monotone. To prevent the ex post moral hazard issue, the incentive compatibility condition is exogenously imposed to restrict the indemnity function. An implicit characterization of the optimal indemnity function is presented first by using the calculus of variations. Based on the point-wise maximizer to the problem, we partition the domain of loss into disjoint pieces and derive the parametric form of the optimal indemnity function over each piece through its implicit characterization. The main result of this paper generalizes those in the literature and provides insights for related problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on customer loyalty and explores the role of customer engagement. The moderating role of gender is also examined. A total of 348 valid responses collected via the intercept approach from life insurance customers in Ghana were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results suggest that CSR dimensions (economic, environmental, and social responsibility) positively impact customer loyalty. Also, the results indicate a partial mediating influence of customer engagement between CSR dimensions and customer loyalty. Further, the results establish the moderating effect of gender between economic and environmental dimensions of CSR and customer engagement. However, the study finds no moderating effect of gender between the social dimension of CSR and customer engagement. The study provides an empirical basis for CSR strategies that can drive customer engagement and customer loyalty in the insurance sector in many economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When an insurance company's risk reserve is governed by a Markov-modulated jump-diffusion risk model, we study gambler's ruin problem in terms of two-sided ruin probability that the insurance company shall be ruined before its risk reserve reaches an upper barrier level b ∈ (0 , ∞). We employ Banach contraction principle and q-scale functions to confirm the two-sided ruin probability to be the only fixed point of a contraction mapping and construct an iterative algorithm of approximating the two-sided ruin probability. We find that the two-sided ruin probability and Lipschitz constant in the contraction mapping depend on the upper barrier level b, premium rate per squared volatility, Markov intensity rate per squared volatility, Poisson intensity rate per squared volatility and the mean value of claim per unit of time. Finally, we present a numerical example with two regimes to show the efficiency of the iterative algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1997 and 2000, all states in the United States (US) enacted the State Children's Health Insurance Programme (SCHIP) to provide publicly funded health insurance coverage for children in low-income families. However, only 15 states including the District of Columbia initially chose to provide coverage for children of newly arrived immigrants in their SCHIP. We exploit the resulting state and time variation in the implementation of the programme in a difference-in-differences framework to estimate the effect of a publicly funded children's health insurance benefit on immigrant women's fertility. While estimates from full samples show that the net effect of the programme was indistinguishable from zero, we find a significant positive effect on the fertility of unmarried immigrant women, both at the extensive and at the intensive margin. Our findings have important policy implications for societies experiencing a persistent decline in fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the effect of real increases in salary on required contribution rates when saving for retirement to maintain a Sustainable Lifestyle Level (SLL). We consider two strategies. The first sets conventional contribution rates, recalculating whenever an increase occurs. This requires smaller initial contribution rates, which then need to be increased later in the employee's working life. The second strategy requires that a constant contribution rate be maintained that allows for the anticipated increases. This rate requires a substantially higher contribution rate from the start. The result is particularly important for setting appropriate default contribution rates for defined contribution retirement funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the determinants of an insurer's guaranteed rate based on a contingent claim model. According to the model development, we structure and estimate the guaranteed rate setting and policyholder protection equations. A time-series approach explains the guaranteed rate-setting behavior and insurance stability captured by policyholder protection from 1990 to 2018. The evidence suggests that derivatives, life insurance premiums, administrative costs, and federal income tax affect the insurer's guaranteed rate-setting behavior. Increasing life insurance premiums and administrative costs in asset-liability matching management significantly enhance policyholder protection, contributing to insurance stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant workers are an important component of China's labor market, playing a vital role in economic development and social stability. In the face of significant health risks related to their work, migrant workers remain largely under-represented in China's health insurance system despite their eligibility to participate in several programs. To achieve China's goal of universal healthcare coverage, migrant workers are targeting populations. The objective of this paper is to understand the factors associated with migrant workers' participation in health insurance programs. This analysis draws from a survey of 3,342 migrant workers that was conducted by China Agricultural University in 2013. A multinomial logit model was performed to identify the determinants of migrant workers' health insurance participation. Our findings suggest that the highest rates of un-insurance were observed for females, the elderly, those with lower levels of education, income, or lower self-reported health status, and migrant workers in the construction industry. They are the most vulnerable populations and susceptible to various health and occupational hazards. Besides the high enrollment rates of migrant workers in the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme, the scheme's lack of portability needs a complete "Inter-province" balancing reimbursement networking platform to be built. Furthermore, establishing a multi-level medical security system that is accessible and affordable may serve the goal of improving health insurance participation among migrant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monetary policy ensures the financial system stabilization. Financial inclusion, characterized by the access and use of available financial services (credit, savings, payments, insurance at a low cost), by a broader population, may explain the effectiveness of the monetary policy, especially in developing countries. The objective of this study is to carry out a comparative analysis between the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), on the causal relationship between financial inclusion and monetary policy, as well as to assess the impact of financial inclusion over monetary policy. To support our study, we applied the panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) methodology, simple panel data models, and a feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) model. Results provide strong evidence of the existence of reverse causality between financial inclusion and monetary policy in both SSA and LAC, with monetary policy facilitating financial inclusion in both regions. Financial inclusion increases the effectiveness of monetary policy in SSA, while for LAC financial inclusion improves the efficiency of monetary policy. Thus, increased access to and use of financial services increase the efficiency of monetary policy in controlling inflation. Governments are encouraged to design or enhance policies that expand financial services, as well as to promote investment in financial inclusion in developing countries, to maintain the monetary system stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bowley reinsurance solutions are reinsurance contracts for which the reinsurer optimally sets the pricing density while anticipating that the insurer will choose the optimal reinsurance indemnity given this pricing density. This Bowley solution concept of equilibrium reinsurance strategy has been revisited in the modern risk management framework by Boonen et al. [(2021). Bowley reinsurance with asymmetric information on the insurer's risk preferences. Scandinavian Actuarial Journal2021, 623–644], where the insurer and reinsurer are both endowed with distortion risk measures but there is asymmetric information on the distortion risk measure of the insurer. In this article, we continue to study this framework, but we allow the premium principle to be more flexible. We call this solution the first-best Bowley solution. We provide first-best Bowley solutions in closed form under very general assumptions. We implement some numerical examples to illustrate the findings and the comparisons with the second-best solution. The main result is further extended to the case when both the reinsurer and the insurers have heterogeneous beliefs on the distribution functions of the underlying risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we demonstrate through the use of matrix calculus a transparent analysis of fractional inhomogeneous Markov models for life insurance where transition matrices commute. The resulting formulae are intuitive matrix generalizations of their single-state counterparts, and the absorption times are matrix versions of well-known scalar distributions. A further advantage of this approach is that it allows extending the analysis to the non-Markovian case where sojourns are Mittag-Leffler distributed, and where the absorption times are fractional phase-type distributed. Considering deterministic time transforms gives rise to fractional inhomogeneous phase-type distributions as absorption times. The latter underlying processes are an example of a regime where not only the present but also the history of a policyholder influences its future evolution. The sub-exponential nature of stable distributions translates into the multi-state insurance model as a random longevity risk at any given state of the chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IFRS 17 requires a significant change to insurer accounting, and we look at some of the frictions resulting from its implementation. We make three points. First, since IFRS 17 is a principles-based standard, it will be costly to implement. Audit committees must become sophisticated users of the underlying models generating the reports. Second, we examine the effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on U.S. public insurers and a similar law for private insurers to assess the costs of complying with new rules. We find evidence that these costs vary in their incidence across the industry. Third, we conduct an event study of specific announcements regarding IFRS 17 promulgation and implementation. We find a negative sentiment for announcements concerning the implementation. However, we cannot identify a single specific rationale for the negative sentiment as it could be related to several factors. In sum, we find that there are many reasons to keep insurance accounting as part of IFRS and some reasons that may lead to delays in implementation, but any concern this accounting standard is 'too difficult' is likely not due to the standard itself but to other things that may reflect the ultimate net benefits of the standard to investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The net investment return we will report reflects the investment return on the assets and the unwind of the discount on liabilities. Then we will have a net investment result which will show how the investment income from the assets we are holding based on the money we have received up front from policy holders. I cast my mind back to whenever all listed companies in Europe had to transition to IFRS reporting for the first time and it was acknowledged then that there was a gap in IFRS and that gap was insurance accounting. [Extracted from the article]

The purpose of this paper is to identify the conditions necessary for the effective functioning of disability insurance in the framework of an overlapping-generations model. Unlike preceding studies, we focus on demographic trends and differences in productivity between young and old workers. Our model implies that the effects of a young or old population on economic growth vary depending on whether peer effects on the process of human capital formation are positive or negative. If a positive peer effect is dominant and either the young or old population is small, economic growth might be higher when disability insurance is available than when it is not. Our results provide important suggestions for governments of the least developed countries in which insurance markets are either non-existent or underdeveloped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent trajectory of micro-insurance in Africa lies at the intersection of two trends that have been percolating unevenly over the past decades: (1) the incorporation of micro-insurance into the practices of FinTech; and (2) the reframing of micro-insurance as a technology relevant to the management of 'climate risk.' I focus on digital experiments in the construction of platforms which access data from remote sensing 'earth observation' technologies to formulate unique indices of climate risk. These platforms mediate the antinomies of presence/absence, place/distance; they operate 'remotely' from the risks they constitute and map while claiming an intimate and 'hyper-local' index of those risks. These mediations manage the distance between 'the ground' and the 'remote' sites from which knowledge of particular locations is produced, constituting new forms of territory and volume. I argue that these platforms entail unique uncertainties of their own: the ongoing problems of basis risk; costs imposed on vulnerable populations often unable to afford premiums; and issues of climate injustice in which responsibility is placed on poor populations to manage climate risks they had little role in creating in the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops a contingent framework to examine the contract issuance of alternative unit-linked insurance plans (ULIPs) considering policy surrender. We show that the extension of the aggressive/conservative-plan policy surrender date enhances policyholder protection and insurer default risk when the two optimal guaranteed rates of the programs remain fixed. Increasing aggressive-plan policy surrenders improves policyholder protection and insurer survival when the optimal invested-asset interest rate remains unchanged. Increasing conservative-plan policy surrenders negatively impacts policyholder protection but supports insurer survival. Our results complement the literature by demonstrating that ULIPs are relevant to policyholder protection and insurer survival in the asset-liability matching management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by the double-debt problem in Japan where the mortgagor has to pay the remaining loan even if their house was destroyed by a catastrophic event, we model the lender's cash flow, by an exponential functional of a renewal-reward process. We propose an insurance add-on to the loan repayments and analyse the asymptotic behavior of the distribution of the first hitting time, which represents the probability of full repayment. We show that the finite-time probability of full loan repayment converges exponentially fast to the infinite-time one. In a few concrete scenarios, we calculate the exact form of the infinite-time probability and the corresponding premiums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries, the decline in interest rates has reduced the interest in traditional participating life insurance contracts with investment guarantees and has led to a shift to unit-linked policies without guarantees. We design a novel mixed insurance contract splitting premium payments between a participating and a unit-linked fund. An additional guarantee fee is applied on the unit-linked return in order to increase the investment guarantee of the participating fund. In a utility-based framework, using power utility and prospect theory as preference functions, we show that the mixed product is usually perceived more attractive than a full investment in either the unit-linked or the participating contract. The guarantee fee is beneficial for conservative investors interested in stronger protection against losses. This is also interesting from a marketing perspective: By the increase of the guarantee in the participating product, zero or negative guaranteed rates can be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) on the performance, value and risk not only of European insurance companies, but also of Middle Eastern and African (MEA) ones using Standard and Poor's (S&P's) ERM rating. Using information from 150 insurance companies, 101 from Europe and 49 from the Middle East and Africa (MEA), during the period 2014–2016, our main finding confirms the positive impact of implementing quality ERM in insurance companies, both in Europe and the MEA region. However, this is not valued by the market (using the Tobin's Q) in the MEA region. Furthermore, we notice that the higher the ERM quality is for the MEA region, the lower the level of risk-taking by the company is. Finally, we find that the positive effect of ERM in companies operating outside Europe on accounting indicators is superior owing to the effect on performance being greater in companies in those areas, where improved risk management and corporate governance is more influential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to develop an approach to extract information about cyber risks from structured financial products. We consider decision makers that are interested in extracting information about the uncertainty of Cyber risks. The value of information can be evaluated using recently developed entropy approaches in Finance. The underlying idea is that what we call Arrow-Debreu Cyber Risk state prices can be extracted, provided the right structured products be 'created'. It is shown that different market-based approaches can be used to get a better idea of the shape of the loss distribution facing firms. This information is potentially of interest to evaluate the risk premiums of insurance products. Comparisons between extracted market expectations can also be informative for risk evaluation, notably the distribution of unexpected losses and the eventual shortfall calculations. Finally, recent information-theoretic approaches enable us to make the link between pricing and the value of information to investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we determine a robust reinsurance contract from joint interests of the insurer and reinsurer under the framework of Stackelberg differential game. More specifically, the reinsurer is the leader of the game and decides on an optimal reinsurance premium to charge, while the insurer is the follower of the game and chooses an optimal proportional reinsurance to purchase. In order to defend the large shocks of wealth process, a loss-dependent premium principle is applied to the insurer. Meanwhile, we incorporate model uncertainty into the reinsurer's controlled surplus due to the asymmetric information. Under the time-consistent mean-variance criterion, we derive the robust reinsurance contract explicitly by solving the coupled extended Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman systems. It is interesting to prove that the optimal premium control for the reinsurer is determined by a time-adjusted variance principle. In addition, we find that the reinsurer would like to raise the reinsurance price to guard against the model uncertainty, which consequently decreases the insurer's reinsurance demand. Finally, further analyses are provided to show the necessity of considering the model uncertainty; otherwise, the reinsurance company will suffer a great loss of utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the classical static optimal reinsurance problem, the cost of capital for the insurer's risk exposure determined by a monetary risk measure is minimized over the class of reinsurance treaties represented by increasing Lipschitz retained loss functions. In this paper, we consider a dynamic extension of this reinsurance problem in discrete time which can be viewed as a risk-sensitive Markov Decision Process. The model allows for both insurance claims and premium income to be stochastic and operates with general risk measures and premium principles. We derive the Bellman equation and show the existence of a Markovian optimal reinsurance policy. Under an infinite planning horizon, the model is shown to be contractive and the optimal reinsurance policy to be stationary. The results are illustrated with examples where the optimal policy can be determined explicitly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a two-stage contingent claim model to evaluate a life insurer's equity. The model sequentially determines the optimal guaranteed rate and the optimal technology choice for strategic asset-liability matching management. We show that increases in policy loans decrease the insurance businesses at a reduced guaranteed rate. The shrinking life insurance businesses discourage the insurer from using advanced technology. However, we find that an increase in advanced technology involvement enhances insurance businesses at an increased guaranteed rate. An increase in the policy loan also increases the policyholder protection when considering the optimal guaranteed rate and technology choice strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) contained provisions granting individuals the opportunity to continue employment-based insurance coverage following qualifying events which would otherwise cause the loss of coverage. In this paper, I examine the impact of COBRA coverage on young adult health insurance coverage following the loss of dependent status, a qualifying event. I use the 1984 to 1989 panels of the Survey of Income Program Participation in a difference-in-differences framework to provide the first estimates of COBRA's impact on young adult insurance status. I find that individuals in the affected age group were 4.5 percentage points more likely to be insured following COBRA going into effect. This increase is largely due to gains in employer sponsored insurance – particularly as a dependent – and is robust to a variety of sensitivity checks. I find considerable heterogeneity by sex; insurance gains are concentrated among young men. These findings suggest that COBRA's access to continued employer sponsored coverage after ageing out as a dependent reduced uninsurance among young adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of grounding the analysis of private transnational human rights governance, the article examines how a European reinsurance company links its human rights policy to its core business of underwriting risks in the case of Belo Monte, a large hydroelectric dam in the Brazilian Amazon. Based on the current international regulatory framework, the global political economy of reinsurance is becoming a constitutive element of human rights governance. Conceptualising underwriting as a social practice, we observe how human rights norms are translated into the corporate form of risks. This process goes beyond questions of norm compliance and involves practices of valuation and boundary-drawing based on the underwriter's competences and background knowledge about reinsurance markets, value chains and corporate hierarchies. We conclude with a critique of private governance as an institutional pillar of the human rights system that rests on business rationales rather than lending institutional power to rights-holders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surrender options in endowment life insurance contracts can result in a surrender risk for the insurer. This risk is closely related to investment and liquidity risks. Consequently, the surrender risk is underestimated if it is assessed without consideration of all major risk sources. Using different risk measures, this paper shows that the surrender risk increases if the liquidity constraint is considered. Additionally, in an extreme event, mass surrender and a liquidity crisis can trigger each other. Therefore, the surrender risk could grow even faster. In this case, the solvency capital calculated within the Solvency II regime may not be enough to provide the intended protection. Furthermore, if policyholders surrender their contracts rationally, insurers face an even higher default threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labour shortages have been a major challenge for U.S. agriculture. Migrant farm workers who constitute a crucial agricultural labour force across the country have experienced a notable decline in recent years. Using the Propensity Score Matching method, this study examines how public health insurance of the Medicaid programme affects the migration of farm workers of different legal statuses. Unlike citizen farm workers, permanent-resident and undocumented farm workers decreased migration across states due to the impact of Medicaid. The findings suggest that a more suitable health insurance design that does not disrupt farm workers' migration patterns during production seasons is needed to increase agricultural labour supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term care has been defined as a continuation of medical services, social services, and housing for patients with chronic health conditions, which have limited their abilities to partake in everyday activities. In the United States, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted to expand coverage for Medicaid and to improve the quality and cost of healthcare. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the ACA on long-term care to determine if it has increased Medicaid payments. The methodology for this investigation utilized a literature review following a systematic approach utilizing 48 references and complemented with a semi-structured interview. It was found that the ACA has increased Medicaid payments, and the number of uninsured patients has decreased. With the implementation of the ACA, nursing homes and lifelong care facilities have been required through the ACA to meet new requirements that have made it easier to file complaints about the quality of care. This study also suggested a decrease in readmission rates with Medicaid and the ACA in long-term settings. The ACA implementation has increased Medicaid payments, and quality of care has been improved through a decrease of readmissions, ulcers, and falls in long-term care facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the effect of risk management (reinsurance) on the corporate cost of equity using panel data drawn from the United Kingdom's (UK) non-life insurance industry. Our results show that use of reinsurance lowers the cost of equity but that the relation is non-linear. We find that the rate of reduction declines as the level of premiums ceded relative to total gross premiums written increases. We also find that the reinsurance-cost of equity relation is moderated by the risk of financial distress/bankruptcy. This moderating relation is robust to the use of three alternative measures of financial distress and bankruptcy risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a network-based contagion model to investigate reinsurance strategy from a macroprudential perspective. We analyse the impact of reinsurance strategy on the spillovers from insurance sector to other economic sectors when a catastrophe such as a series of coronavirus-related claims occurs. The risk diversification level of the reinsurance strategy shows nonmonotonic effects on risk spillovers. When the diversified level is high enough relative to the actual magnitude of catastrophe, the spillover effect will not occur. However, when not sufficiently diversified, spillover effect is unavoidable and the diversified level shows a U-shaped relation with economic losses caused by risk spillovers. Our results thus reveal a new reinsurance insight for policymakers and regulators to develop macroprudential policy for managing systemic risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study an optimal dividend problem for an insurer who simultaneously controls investment weights in a financial market, liability ratio in the insurance business, and dividend payout rate. The insurer seeks an optimal strategy to maximize her expected utility of dividend payments over an infinite horizon. By applying a perturbation approach, we obtain the optimal strategy and the value function in closed form for log and power utility. We conduct an economic analysis to investigate the impact of various model parameters and risk aversion on the insurer's optimal strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries ban insurers from using genetic test results in underwriting. One study [Howard, R. C. W. (2014). Report to CIA research committee: Genetic testing model: If the underwriters had no access to known results. Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA).] stated that such a ban in Canada would expose life insurers to adverse selection, causing premiums to increase by 12%. More than a quarter of this cost was attributable to a single disorder, Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC). We model ARVC in a life insurance market, following the methodology of [Haçarız, O., Kleinow, T. & Macdonald, A. S. (2021). Genetics, insurance and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Scandinavian Actuarial Journal 2021, 54–81.], including 'cascade' genetic testing (CGT), so the rôle of family history in underwriting is modelled explicitly. We review (in the Appendix) the published epidemiology of ARVC, in particular the existence of an effective treatment, which we also include in our model. Our results are consistent with those of [Macdonald, A. S. & Yu, F. (2011). The impact of genetic information on the insurance industry: Conclusions from the 'bottom-up' modelling programme. Astin Bulletin41(02), 343–376.] and [Haçarız, O., Kleinow, T. & Macdonald, A. S. (2021). Genetics, insurance and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Scandinavian Actuarial Journal 2021, 54–81.], namely, that in realistic scenarios premium increases would be negligible. We also consider the possibility of life settlement companies 'gaming' insurers by learning of adverse genetic test results, and conclude that to profit from purchasing policies from affected individuals, they would have to predict the future trajectory of the epidemiology of ARVC better than the epidemiologists themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]